Few people are familiar with the Biblical figure Nehemiah, and yet he was instrumental in the rebuilding and reestablishment of Jerusalem in the fifth century B.C. following the Babylonian exile. BAR managing editor Dorothy D. Resig examines the Persian official who played such a crucial role restoring and fortifying Jerusalem. Visit us online to read about the historical figure of Nehemiah and the sources that comprise the Book of Nehemiah.

Take a fresh look at our Travel/Study site, featuring a sleek new design, free e-books on Biblical lands, a new Alumni area and our always-popular tours, seminars and cruises. For more than 30 years, the Biblical Archaeology Society’s Travel/Study program has presented a wide variety of educational programs and tours for people who have an unending interest in Biblical studies and in the archaeology of the Biblical lands.

Our seminars have ranged from weekend programs throughout the United States and Canada, to week-long summer programs on college campuses and retreat centers, to two-week-long programs on the campus of Oxford University. We also organize Seminars at Sea, where participants enjoy the pleasures of a cruise while attending daily lectures from a top scholar. Leading our seminars are the top names in Biblical studies and in archaeology, both from North America and from around the world. Our enlightening tours of Israel, Egypt and other lands of the ancient Biblical and classical world feature master guides.

This week in the news, a Greek fisherman netted quite a surprise when he reeled in a 2,200-year-old bronze statue of a horseman, while in Cyprus an Italian archaeologist claims to have found the island’s oldest religious site. Egypt’s crusade to recover stolen antiquities scores a victory with the return of an ancient wooden sarcophagus, while a massive Byzantine-era bath complex is discovered in southern Israel. Meanwhile, surprising new data from an excavation in southeastern Turkey is causing scholars to reconsider the current theories regarding steel production in antiquity.

Write a caption for this cartoon! The author of the best caption will receive a BAS T-shirt, a Dead Sea Scroll mug and three complimentary subscriptions to give BAR to friends.
Runners-up will receive a BAS T-shirt and two complimentary subscriptions.The deadline for captions is April 15, 2009.

This user-friendly disc has every issue of Bible Review, a nondenominational magazine of Biblical insights and exquisite art. It includes more than 800 articles, 2,500 photos and all editorial content–articles, sidebars, news stories, book reviews and letters to the editor.

GIANTS AT JERICHORonald Hendel takes a new look at what archaeology has to say about Jericho

Traditionally, archaeologists have always been a bit puzzled about the material record’s silence on the subject of Jericho and the tumbling of its legendary walls. Hendel posits that the archaeological evidence does indeed tell us something about the conquering of Jericho: It’s the Biblical story itself that is responsible for the lack of correlation. By taking a close look at the early Israelite belief that giants inhabited the ancient Canaanite cities, Hendel suggests that archaeology may have something to say about the subject after all.

Take a fresh look at our Travel/Study site, featuring a sleek new design, free e-books on Biblical lands, a new Alumni area and our always-popular tours, seminars and cruises. For more than 30 years, the Biblical Archaeology Society’s Travel/Study program has presented a wide variety of educational programs and tours for people who have an unending interest in Biblical studies and in the archaeology of the Biblical lands.

Our seminars have ranged from weekend programs throughout the United States and Canada, to week-long summer programs on college campuses and retreat centers, to two-week-long programs on the campus of Oxford University. We also organize Seminars at Sea, where participants enjoy the pleasures of a cruise while attending daily lectures from a top scholar. Leading our seminars are the top names in Biblical studies and in archaeology, both from North America and from around the world. Our enlightening tours of Israel, Egypt and other lands of the ancient Biblical and classical world feature master guides.

After the amazing response to our Dig Issue cover contest, we have decided once again to ask our readers to choose the cover of our next issue. We’ve got a great issue coming up for May/June, and we’d like your help deciding on the cover image. Simply take a look at the two possibilities we’ve posted, and vote for your favorite by March 27. The winning photo will be the cover of our May/June issue. Please vote and let us know which photo you think would make the best cover of BAR. We look forward to hearing from you!

This week in the news, a 3,500-year-old pained tomb is discovered in Luxor, Egypt, by a Spanish archaeological team. In Israel, "Abraham’s Gate" was reopened in Tel Dan, and excavations in Tiberias have been launched in memory of the Israel Antiquities Authority founder. Elsewhere, a drought in Iraq is revealing archaeological treasures.

Write a caption for this cartoon! The author of the best caption will receive a BAS T-shirt, a Dead Sea Scroll mug and three complimentary subscriptions to give BAR to friends.
Runners-up will receive a BAS T-shirt and two complimentary subscriptions.The deadline for captions is April 15, 2009.

It is a
little difficult to put a finger on any one cause for global warming.Is it truly global warming? Or could it be
global cooling, as some claim?Or is it
sunspots?Or could it be something that
has not yet reached the level of public awareness?Perhaps – volcanoes?The big question is: has the Earth already
been through a similar global
warming, and if so, how drastic was that change?Another question many people should ask themselves,
“Why does man think so highly of himself as to believe he is the sole cause for
such an enormous macro-process as global warming?”Is man the singular source of global warming
as many claim, or is he but a factor in a complex equation of naturally
occurring physical phenomena?These
topics will be explored, for and against; and perhaps, not unlike the parable
of the blind men and the elephant[1],
it might be seen that the global community is looking at the same animal, but from different perspectives.

The Contra-Argument for Global
Warming:

The
evidence for global warming is mounting daily.It has become so accepted that anyone holding a different view is looked
upon askance.There have been
politicians that insist there is “not enough scientific evidence to blame
industrial emissions for global warming” (CBS
2002).This view could be construed
as coming from an economic and/or political viewpoint, rather than a scientific
one.But many more of these differing
views are from noted climatologists.Recently,
even the public is becoming more complacent as revealed in a recent Pew[2]poll showing
global warming is last on everyone’s priority list.Instead, the public is focused on the economy
and terrorism (AJStrata
2009).One scientist, Dr. Patrick
Michaels, a climatologist and professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, insists the evidence for
global warming is being grossly exaggerated, owing to a systematic failure of
climate change computer models.He says
“that the models have projected higher temperatures than have actually occurred
in recent years” (FOXNewss.com
2009).Indeed, he indicates that theclimate in the climatology community
is increasingly gloomier than need be.

On February 25, 2009, Professor of
Physics at Princeton University William Happer made a statement before the U.S.
Senate that was particularly compelling:

“The climate is warming and CO2 is increasing.Doesn’t this prove that CO2 is
causing global warming through the greenhouse effect?No, the current warming period began about
1800 at the end of the Little Ice Age, long before there was an appreciable
increase of CO2.There have
been similar and even larger warmings several times in the 10,000 years since
the end of the last ice age.These
earlier warmings clearly had nothing to do with the combustion of fossil fuels.The current warming also seems to be due
mostly to natural causes, not to increasing levels of carbon dioxide.Over the past ten years there has been no
global warming, and in fact a slight cooling.This is not at all what was predicted by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
models” (Hoven
2009).

Dr. Happer went on to report that
the “increase in CO2 is not a cause for alarm and will be good for
mankind” … “Plants, and our own primate ancestors evolved when the levels of
atmospheric CO2 were about 1000 ppm, a level that we will probably
not reach by burning fossil fuels, and far above our current level of about 380
ppm” (Happer 2009).He explained that the claims for increased CO2
are “wildly exaggerated,” adding that there is a constant change in climate,
referring back to ancient times when Romans grew grapes in England circa 100 A.D., and the Vikings colonized
Greenland when it was still warm.He clarifies the contention that while CO2
may be a “poison,” it is essential for human life and the growth of
plants.With regard to a consensus in
the scientific community regarding global warming, he states that there is
none; that “science is not determined by consensus but by experiment and
observations.Historically, the
consensus is often wrong…” and that scientific journals are rejecting papers
with opposite viewpoints for fear of losing “research funding” (Happer 2009).He agrees that the sea level has been rising,
but that it has been rising “for the past 20,000 years since the end of the
last ice age” (Happer 2009).

The earthy wisdom and weather
forecasting of the Old Farmers Almanac is legendary.So, it is not surprising that the folks at
the Almanac have a little something to say about upcoming weather.An article
on the Internet in September 2008 predicted a “cooler winter, but looking ahead
decades to suggest we are in for global cooling, not warming” (Tirrell-Wysocki
2008) for the first half of the millennia.The Almanac staff uses a complex study of sunspot cycles and their
effects on ocean currents, although they are unwilling to divulge their exact
calculations that have been published since 1792.At the time the article was written, fall of
2008, it was predicted that North America would “be colder than normal in the
coming winter, with heavy snow from the Ozarks into southern New
England” (Tirrell-Wysocki
2008). That prediction was borne out in fact during the winter of 2009.

Continuing upon the topic of
sunspots, during a climate conference in New
York City, 2008, there was a report that firmly
“dispelled notions that the global warming debate is over” (Leader-Telegram
2008).They agree as to the
existence of a “post-Little Ice Age warming,” but do not believe that gas
emissions alone are creating any major climate shift.The conference highlighted sunspots and how
they are associated with magnetic solar storms that affect Earth’s weather.We have just come out of a “very strong
11-year sunspot cycle,” ending in 2007 (Leader-Telegram
2008).A new cycle should have
begun, but hasn’t yet occurred.There is
currently little sunspot activity, and this lack of activity results in
cooling, which is far more dangerous than global warming.Global cooling phases have led to crop
failures, shortened growing periods, and food shortages.These scientists insist that global cooling
is in the offing (Leader-Telegram
2008).

Climate scientist Willie Soon of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics writes in a
recent article
that sunspots have been studied for over 5,000 years.Dr. Soon states:

“Chinese imperial astronomers kept detailed sunspot records.They noticed the more sunspots meant warmer
weather on Earth.In 1801, the
celebrated astronomer William Herschel noticed that when there were few spots,
the price of wheat soared – because, he surmised, less ‘light and heat’ from
the sun results in reduced harvests” (Soon
2009).

Dr. Soon challenges the U.N.’s
climate panel’s report on the scientific “consensus” that global warming is
produced by man-made CO2 emissions.Indeed, it is “fraught with serious scientific shortcomings in its
discussion of the sun’s influence on Earth’s climate” (Soon
2009).The U.N.’s estimate on the
increase in solar radiation over the past 400 years is based on data in a “modeling
study” by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, using a computer program that
“was not designed to reach such conclusions, as it has no routine to calculate
solar radiation” (Soon
2009).He reports that even the
slightest change in solar radiation has a “strong effect” on the planet’s
weather.Dr. Soon’s paper, recently
published in the journal Physical
Geography, indicates that his studies “invalidate[s] the hypothesis [that]
CO2 is a major cause of observed climate change – and raises serious
questions about the wisdom of imposing cap-and-trade or other policies that
would cripple energy production and economic activity, in the name of
‘preventing catastrophic climate change’” (Soon
2009).

Proponents
of Global Warming:

Despite the evidence for global
cooling, there is also some evidence for warming.The Pew Center Global
Climate Change website defines the basics of global warming as being caused
largely by “emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human
activities” (Pew Center
2009).This view by far is the most
accepted reason for global warming by the media, many scientists, and the
public at large.But then again, it is
the media that largely forms public opinion.Many other scientific studies appear to be ignored or marginalized by
the main media press; such as active Arctic
and Antarctic underwater volcanoes.There is evidence that the Earth has already been this way once before,
and could potentially be headed once again into a period that at one time made
the Arctic a tropical paradise.

A geologic survey team in Arctic Canada in 2006 discovered a
surprising fossil – a tropical, freshwater turtle from Asia.Dubbed Aurorachelys,
or aurora turtle, it existed some 90
million years ago.How did this
freshwater turtle cross the Arctic’s salty
sea?The expedition discovered that 90
million years ago there was an unusual amount of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean.It
is conjectured that volcanic activity might have created an island chain along
a mountain range in the Arctic known as the Alpha
Ridge, and presumably melting glacial ice provided the fresh water and vast
amounts of CO2; thus, the greenhouse effect.Turtles, not to mention other species, would
have had little trouble crossing over an Arctic sea flooded by freshwater.Freshwater is lighter than salt water, and
would have simply rested on top of the ocean water.It is concluded that not only did creatures
migrate over the warm Arctic Ocean, but even
“thrived” in it.The specimen was
discovered “right on top of the last flood basalts – a large stretch of lava
from a series of giant volcanic eruptions,” concluded the geologic expedition
team leader John Tarduno, and professor of geophysics at the University of Rochester.He added, “We’re talking about extremely
warm, ice-free conditions in the Arctic region, allowing migrations across the
pole” (Sciencedaily.com
2009).So, the conclusion drawn is
that volcanic activity alone created tropical conditions in ancient Arctic
history.Might it not do so again?

An Internet report posted last year states that in 1999 there was
documentation made by a survey team from Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts of a series of eruptions in
the Arctic that rivaled Pompeii in the Gakkel
Ridge; an underwater mountain chain running from Greenland to Siberia.Instead of a peaceful outflow of lava along
the ocean bed there were massive eruptions.The tectonic plates beneath the ocean along the ridge were spewing lava
and the “flat-topped volcanoes [were] up to two kilometers (1.2 miles wide) and
several hundred meters high”…and…“the amount of ice began to decline
precipitously in around 1999, which is when these volcanoes began their eruption”
(Gilbert
2008).

The same is true in the Antarctic where it has been discovered by
a team from the British Antarctic Survey
that active volcanoes under the ice in Antarctica
are creating a “melt-water” at the base of the ice sheet that is increasing the
flow of glacial ice out towards the ocean.The sub-glacial volcano is said to be about the size of Wales
and is located in the Western Antarctic ice sheet.Photo imagings of this area from 1992 to 2004
shows that volcanic activity has been increasing and that there have been eruptions
of a magnitude not seen for 10,000 years.It blew a hole in the ice sheet that shot up a “plume of ash and gas” to
approximately 7.2 miles.In the report
it is conjectured that many claim that “CO2 is the driver for any
melting of the Antarctic ice sheet.”However, melting permafrost itself releases huge amounts of CO2
– not the other way around.There are
many volcanoes in the Antarctic along the western coastal edge, but there may
be many more in the interior which have not yet been discovered (Watts
2008).

Another group of multidisciplinary research teams from over 60
different countries all over the world are still in the midst of publishing
their findings from a two-year study and are at the point of completion in
March 2009.It is called the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008
and some findings are currently to be found in the scientific Internet
websites.An article was published on
ScienceDaily entitled, “Ice Declining Faster than Expected in Both Arctic and
Antarctic Glaciers.”Initial reports are
that the evidence for global warming in the poles indicates that there are
rising temperatures in the Southern Ocean.There is fresh bottom water in Antarctica
that is from melting glaciers.The
melting permafrost is releasing huge amounts of methane (greenhouse
gases).It is conjectured that this will
affect ocean currents; and there is solid evidence that many species of ocean
life are migrating toward the poles as they become warmer (ICSU 2009).This is a movement toward similar conditions
in the Arctic 90 million years ago, as seen by the fossilized remains of the
Asian aurora turtle found in northern Canada.Unfortunately, the IPY report does not offer
any further insight into any volcanic activity at the poles.

As another example of global warming, quite recently the Audubon
Society reported that more than half of all of the 305 species of birds in
North America winter 35 miles farther north than they did some 40 years ago (Cappiello
2009).In some cases, a few species
winter as much as 100 miles farther north.Milder winter temperatures mean birds do not have to expend as much
energy to fly south and many species are even experiencing greater population
growth, especially in those states that have grown the warmest.However, with the milder weather there are
earlier springs, and some Canadian geese are not even migrating.This may cause, as early as next year, a
“major population collapse of Canada
geese on their breeding grounds around Hudson Bay”
(Pore
2009).That means that the complexities
of the food chain in that area will be stretched to the limit and many other
species could be adversely affected.But
not all of the news is bleak.Many bird
species usually found in southern climes are now being seen in North American
states that are unaccustomed to seeing such visitors.There is also a shift in migration from
coastal areas to further inland.But on
a more somber note, the same study also speculates that the recent devastating
southern Australian fires caused by severe drought were brought on by global
warming (Pore
2009).

Conclusions:

Had both
the Arctic and Antarctic volcanic eruptions
occurred within densely populated areas, headlines would read differently
today.Instead, they have all but passed
unnoticed to everyone but the scientists involved with their research.However, the volcanic heat is affecting both
poles, and these areas are becoming “warmer.”Sea life that usually prefers warmer waters are migrating to the
poles.This event is not unlike that
which occurred a millennia ago when the aurora
turtle migrated over the Arctic
Sea.Though, there is more evidence that the
glacial ice at the poles is melting at an alarming rate, it is due to volcanic
activity and not to CO2 emissions as has been argued.

In four
separate articles it is noted that the climate models used in projecting
warming trends are called into question.As in any other science, if the premise is wrong, then the conclusion must be wrong with regard to these
models.

The
evidence in the migration of birds is an indicator that some change is taking
place.This evidence is the most
puzzling of all, because the statistics in bird migrations are to vast to
discount..There may be an obscure
factor relating to this process, such as volcanic activity at the poles.Other factors may a combination of “urban
sprawl, deforestation, and the supplemental diet provided by backyard feeders”
(Cappiello
2009).As biologist Terry Root at Stanford University relates, “The study ‘shows a
very, very large fraction of the wintering birds are shifting’ northward”…”We
don’t know for a fact that it is warming.But when one keeps finding the same thing over and over…we know it is
not just a figment of our imagination” (Cappiello
2009).

In sunspot
research, sunspots or lack of them seem to have a greater affect on the weather
than had been realized.Solar research
scientists suggest a cooling trend is indicated.

The most
logical view is that the earth is doing what is has always done.All of the anxiety over global warming may be
due to the fact that man does not trust the Earth to protect and heal itself;
or worse, all of the alarm stems from a more political and economic
motive.Still, an excess of man-made CO2
emissions and overuse of fossil fuels in the industrialized nations is
incompatible with responsible stewardship of Earth’s resources.The limiting of industrial CO2
emissions is praiseworthy on its own, and curtailing the use of fossil fuels as
outlined in the environmental plan as set forth by President Barak Obama is to
be fully endorsed.Another important
reason to limit the use of fossil fuels is to remove it as a bargaining chip by
Middle Eastern interests.

The
question then remains: “Are we not just experiencing a normal weather cycle?”My own considered opinion is that this is the
case.Therefore, the popular alarmist
view of impending doom is irresponsible pseudo-science.There indeed seems to be a case for global
warming, but not to the degree that it has been claimed, nor is its cause
entirely man-made; underwater volcanic activity is a more likely
explanation.The altered migratory
habits of birds within the last 40 years are also a testament to this
view.Yet, there is also evidence of a
global cooling due to the lack of sunspot activity, which may in the end
counteract global warming to some degree.The best advice is to take all relevant data into consideration and
collate them in a cogent manner.This
would be more in keeping with the Buddhist parable cautioning us all to begin
to see more than “one side of a thing” (Kazlev
2004).

[1]
This is from a Buddhist parable of blind scholars who are shown various aspects
of an elephant and are asked to describe it.They each describe it as a different thing, and then begin to quarrel
over it. Says Buddha: “In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome,
wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and
thus."Then Buddha utters a verse:

“O how they cling and wrangle, some who
claim For
preacher and monk the honored name! For,
quarreling, each to his view they cling. Such
folk see only one side of a thing” (Kazlev
2004).

Winter is almost over and spring is poised to take its place. Come celebrate the changing seasons at the Met, where several exhibitions are closing to make way for exciting new exhibitions opening this spring and summer. This month, don’t miss the chance to see exhilarating African-American art, illuminated choir books, and contemporary photography.

Stop by to enjoy an after-work visit to the galleries or to meet friends in the Balcony Bar for live classical music and a light snack. Experience the captivating ambience of the galleries when the Met is open late on Friday and Saturday evenings!

Special exhibitions are free with Museum admission. Order express admission online through TicketWeb.

The first exhibition to focus entirely on the radiant late interiors and still lifes of Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), the 80 paintings, drawings, and watercolors on display date from the artist’s later years, when he centered his painting activity in his pink stucco house overlooking the Mediterranean in the village of Le Cannet. Working in a converted upstairs bedroom, Bonnard transformed the rooms and objects that surrounded him into iridescent subjects, remarkable in color, light, and vision. Compelling metaphors for a range of sensations, the late paintings convey a disquieting effect. It is these luminous late interiors that define Bonnard’s modernism and prompt a reappraisal of his reputation in the history of 20th-century art. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

The installation features new acquisitions from the past 15 years on view at the Museum for the first time. Included are sculptures and prints by contemporary African-American artists—Chakaia Booker, Willie Cole, Glenn Ligon, Whitfield Lovell, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker—who confront issues of racial heritage and identity. See the exhibition preview for more information.

Some two dozen leaves of the most splendid examples from the Museum’s little-known collection of choral manuscript illuminations are exhibited, coinciding with the publication of a Museum Bulletin devoted to the subject. With jewel-like color and gold leaf, these precious images—which include scenes of singing angels, Hebrew prophets, heroic saints, and Renaissance princes—spring from the unique, artful marriage of painting, text, and music. The Museum’s collection includes works created for churches across Italy, from Florence to Venice and from Cremona to Naples, by some of the most celebrated painters of their day. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

This installation of works from the permanent collection—the third in the Museum’s new gallery for contemporary photographs—surveys the ways in which artists exploit photography’s fundamental illusionism to create a sense of ambiguity about what is real and what is not. Among the works that are featured are photographs of staged scenarios or constructed environments that appear to be real, as well as real scenes or landscapes that appear strangely artificial. Artists include James Casebere, Gregory Crewdson, Robert Gober, David Levinthal, Vik Muniz, Stephen Shore, and Taryn Simon, among others. See the exhibition preview for more information.

This exhibition illustrates the stunningly diverse classical textile genres created by artists in West Africa through some of their earliest documented and finest works. Highlights of the Metropolitan’s own holdings are presented along with some 20 works that had entered The British Museum’s collection by the early 20th century. Selected pieces represent inventive variations on major themes of the influential classical genres. The exhibition relates these genres to contemporary art forms by affording an appreciation of the cultural context and visual language of these traditions and exploring their synergy and resonance in works by eight living artists. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

A display of the Museum’s rare holdings of Indian illuminated palm-leaf manuscripts focuses on one remarkable Mahayanist Buddhist text, the Ashtasahashirika Prajnaparamita sutra (Perfection of Wisdom). These superbly illustrated folios are supported by related illuminated book covers, sculptures, and Tibetan thankas. See the exhibition preview for more information.

This is the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the European old-master and 19th-century drawings from the distinguished collection of Jean Bonna in Geneva, Switzerland. Many of the 120 drawings on display are masterpieces, spanning 500 years of the history of art, from the Renaissance to 1900 and representing a diversity of artistic schools in Italy, Northern Europe, France, and Great Britain, among other countries. The selection includes works by well-known artists—such as Carpaccio, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Canaletto, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, Watteau, Chardin, Boucher, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Gericault, Delacroix, Manet, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Seurat—as well as superb and poignant drawings by less-familiar names. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

This exhibition focuses on a collection of 9,000 picture postcards amassed and classified by the American photographer Walker Evans (1903–1975), now part of the Museum’s Walker Evans Archive. The picture postcard represented a powerful strain of indigenous American realism that directly influenced Evans’s artistic development. The dynamic installation of hundreds of American postcards drawn from Evans’s collection reveals the symbiotic relationship between the artist’s own art and his interest in the style of the postcard. This is also demonstrated with a selection of about a dozen of his own photographs printed in 1936 on postcard format photographic paper. See the exhibition preview for more information.

Beginning in the 16th century, a tradition of bronze sculpture developed in France that was influenced by achievements of the Italian Renaissance but soon revealed its own distinct force, refinement, and panache. Even though French bronzes were among the glories of royal châteaux, including Versailles, and were always collected eagerly by connoisseurs, they have received relatively little public scrutiny. Evolving from a decadelong collaborative study among scholars, this is the first exhibition to address the subject in 40 years. Approximately 110 of the finest statuettes, portrait busts, and monuments proclaim the French genius for bronze from the late Renaissance through the times of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. Germain Pilon, Barthélemy Prieur, Michel Anguier, François Girardon, Antoine Coysevox, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, and Jean-Antoine Houdon are only a few of the cavalcade of masters in the exhibition who lent their prodigious talents to this prestigious medium. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

Drawn entirely from the extensive resources of the Metropolitan Museum, this exhibition presents the rich diversity of art created under China’s Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Its 70 paintings and calligraphies chronicle the parallel evolutions of the courtly and the scholar-amateur traditions. These works are complemented by a generous selection of textiles, ceramics, lacquers, cloisonné, jades, and bamboo carvings that showcase the material prosperity experienced under the Ming, whose name aptly translates as "brilliant." See the exhibition preview for more information.

The porcelain factories of Berlin, Sèvres, and Vienna achieved an extraordinary level of both artistic and technical skill in the first half of the 19th century, and the quality of painted decoration practices at these three factories at that time has never been surpassed. This exhibition brings together approximately 75 extraordinary examples from these three European porcelain manufactories and illustrates the exchange of ideas and styles between the factories that resulted in some of the most remarkable porcelain ever produced. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

This international loan exhibition will present approximately 50 works of art that illustrate the height of artistic production under court and elite patronage during the first 200 years of the Choson dynasty (1392–1910), a time of extraordinary cultural achievements. The diverse yet cohesive group of secular and religious paintings, porcelain, sculpture, lacquer, and metalwork will highlight the aesthetics, conventions, and innovations of a Neo-Confucian elite and its artistic milieu. This will be the first in a series of special exhibitions at the Museum focusing on significant periods in Korean art history. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

Met Podcast episodes feature exclusive audio commentary on our world-renowned special exhibitions as well as curatorial insights into individual masterpieces, artists’ discussions of their work, and explorations of a wide variety of art-related topics.

Subscribe to receive new episodes automatically or for access to the archive of past ones. For more information, see Met Podcast.

In BAR‘s First Person, Hershel Shanks takes a closer look at the difficulties archaeologists face when attributing a monument or building to a Biblical figure. Shanks uses several important excavations in Israel as examples, including the site of Tel Dor on the Mediterranean coast of Israel and the "Palace of King David" in Jerusalem. While he contends that the public is entitled to educated speculation and theories, he observes that archaeologists are often reluctant to do so, particularly when Biblical connections are on the table as possibilities.

What, you might reasonably ask, does a book about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. have to do with Biblical archaeology? Well, stay tuned, the answer may surprise you. Author Judith Harris is a frequent commentator on Italian culture and a former contributing editor to the BAS publication Archaeology Odyssey. In a famous, cataclysmic eruption, Vesuvius spewed some 10 billion tons of volcanic material to a height of nearly 10 miles. The resulting cloud of super-heated detritus then settled back to earth, covering a swath of the coast of the Bay of Naples to a depth averaging more than 40 feet.

Reports from Iraq this week show that urban sprawl in Mosul is quickly covering the remains of ancient Ninevah that lie buried beneath the city, proving that modern development is an even greater threat to the antiquities here than looting. Meanwhile, a New York City attorney and son of well-known Dead Sea Scroll scholar Norman Golb is arrested on charges of identity theft and aggravated harassment for impersonating scholarly opponents of his father’s theories. Archaeologists have found new skeletal evidence in Kazakhstan that the domestication of horses first occurred here around 3500 B.C.–a millennium earlier than was previously thought, and a bus station in Jerusalem is now offering Torah portions instead of chips and candy bars in one of their vending machines.

Explore the culture, archaeology and stunning monuments of the Other Holy Land

September 21-October 3, 2009

After Israel, Turkey has more Biblical sites than any other country. Many people are unaware of Turkey’s unique role in the Bible because this strategic peninsula–bounded by the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas–is usually called Asia Minor or Anatolia. Turkey is especially important in understanding the background of the New Testament because approximately two-thirds of its books were written either to or from churches in Turkey. The three major apostles–Peter, Paul and John–either ministered or lived in Turkey.

Your guide is scholar Mark Wilson, the director of the Asia Minor Research Center in Izmir, Turkey. Dr Wilson, who has served as a consultant for "The First Christians" in the History Channel’s "Lost Worlds" series, is currently Visiting Professor of Early Christianity at Regent University and leads field studies in Turkey for several universities and seminaries. His expertise will illuminate the ancient sites and rich history of this legendary land.

Write a caption for this cartoon! The author of the best caption will receive a BAS T-shirt, a Dead Sea Scroll mug and three complimentary subscriptions to give BAR to friends.
Runners-up will receive a BAS T-shirt and two complimentary subscriptions. The deadline for captions is April 15, 2009.

Here at the Met, we believe that the Museum is a place of beauty and inspiration all year round. The month of March is no exception. We invite you to join us as we goodbye to a gray winter and hello to a colorful spring with wonderful special exhibitions that will dazzle your eyes special programs that will enrich your mind.

You won’t want to miss these special offerings, many of which will end in April. Come soon—spend the last days of winter and the first days of spring with us at the Met!

NYC & Company, the city’s marketing and tourism organization, would like to learn about the role of the arts in your life. They invite you to take a survey. It should take fewer than 10 minutes of your time, and your responses will be kept anonymous and confidential. To participate, please see the online survey.

More than two dozen leaves of the most splendid examples from the Museum’s little-known collection of choral manuscript illuminations are displayed in this exhibition. With jewel-like color and gold leaf, these precious images—which include scenes of singing angels, Hebrew prophets, heroic saints, and Renaissance princes—spring from the unique, artful marriage of painting, text, and music. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

The first exhibition to focus entirely on the radiant late interiors and still lifes of Pierre Bonnard, the 80 paintings, drawings, and watercolors on display date from the artist’s later years, when he centered his painting activity in his house overlooking the Mediterranean. Working in a converted upstairs bedroom, Bonnard transformed the rooms and objects that surrounded him into iridescent subjects, remarkable in color, light, and vision. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

Many of the 120 drawings on display are masterpieces, spanning 500 years of the history of art, from the Renaissance to 1900. The selection includes works by well-known artists—such as Carpaccio, Raphael, Canaletto, Rembrandt, Watteau, Chardin, Boucher, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Gericault, Delacroix, Manet, Whistler, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Seurat—as well as superb drawings by less-familiar names. See the exhibition preview for more information, including sponsorship credits.

This lecture is in conjunction with the special exhibition Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard, open to the public February 3–May 25. The American photographer Walker Evans (1903–1975) amassed and classified a collection of 9,000 picture postcards, now part of the Metropolitan’s Walker Evans Archive. This exhibition, a dynamic installation of hundreds of American postcards drawn from Evans’s collection, reveals the symbiotic relationship between Evans’s own art and his interest in the style and quotidian subject matter of the postcard.

Enjoy a private preview of the special exhibition The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984. Born into the media culture of postwar America, "The Pictures Generation," a loosely knit group of New York artists, created the seminal photographs of the late 20th century. Their overarching subject was how pictures of all kinds not only depict but shape reality.

The conservation of paintings is an art unto itself. These afternoon lectures highlight current and recent painting conservation projects at the Met, describing the fascinating work involved in understanding as well as preserving the artwork in the Museum’s care.

The preservation of historic frames, the "poor cousins" of paintings and drawings, is difficult, fascinating work, as this essay on Italian Renaissance frames from the Department of Paintings Conservation explains.

This talk focuses on the production of ancient glass in the Holy Land, from the artisan’s workshop to large-scale raw-glass industries. The lecture examines the design and use of furnaces, various vessels, oil lamps, and jewelry. It also highlights the magnificent Sigma-Shaped Panel, a Byzantine gold and opaque glass panel masterpiece from Caesarea (Israel) on display at the Museum.

The newly redesigned space housing the New Galleries for Oceanic Art allows the Met to display one of the world’s premier collections of the arts of the Pacific Islands. Join us for "A Third of the World in Three Rooms—Redesigning the Oceanic Galleries" and "What to Do with a 50-Foot Canoe?—The Care, Conservation, and Installation of Oceanic Art."

Oceania encompasses a third of the globe and boasts a wonderfully diverse artistic heritage. See a video featuring a curatorial introduction to the art of this region.

Entertain a group of up to eight individuals in the art-filled setting of The Patrons Lounge and enjoy an assortment of classic English tea sandwiches, scones, and special sweets. By reservation, afternoon tea is served in The Patrons Lounge Tuesday through Sunday from 2:30 until 4:00 p.m. for $21 per person.

There are additional Lounge services for President’s Circle, Patron Circle, Patron, and Sponsor Members. Offering a quiet, comfortable, art-filled setting, The Patrons Lounge is the perfect place to spend time with friends or to relax on your own. The Lounge provides:

Don’t miss our Members Double Discount Days! Museum Members save 20% on their purchases online and in stores March 31 through April 5. See Special Offers for Members for details. If you are not yet a Member, join now to take advantage of these extra savings.

A wonderful way to support the future of the Metropolitan Museum and also create a stream of payments for yourself or someone you care about is through a charitable gift annuity. With a gift of $10,000 or more a charitable gift annuity can offer:

• Fixed payments for life for yourself or a loved one
• A current tax deduction for a portion of the gift
• Protection from stock market volatility

For more information on how an annuity might work for you, please call the Planned Giving Program at 212-570-3796 or email us at planned.giving@metmuseum.org. Learn more on the Museum’s website, www.metmuseum.org in the Planned Giving section under "Ways to Give."

The design of our ring is based on an original bracelet crafted during the Middle Kingdom and now in the Museum’s collection.

Member Price: $76.50
Non-Member Price: $85.00

Members Double Discount Days
March 31–April 5
Members enjoy a 20% discount that can be used online or in person. See Special Offers for Members for details. If you are not yet a Member, you can join now!

Discover the original form and purpose of the Mangaaka Power Figure, an arresting sculpture from Central Africa, in this Met Podcast episode with Curator Alisa LaGamma and Director Emeritus Philippe de Montebello.

Live Giant Saguaro!!!
They are back in stock after 2 years.Live Giant Saguaro
The saguaro is 2 to 3 inches high and about 2 inches wide. Come with pot and dirt. Just add 1 tablespoon of water every month.

Description of Giant SaguaroThe magnificent Saguaro Cactus, the state flower of Arizona, is composed of a tall, thick, fluted, columnar stem, 18 to 24 inches in diameter, often with several large branches (arms) curving upward in the most distinctive conformation of all Southwestern cacti.The skin is smooth and waxy, the trunk and stems have stout, 2-inch spines clustered on their ribs. When water is absorbed , the outer pulp of the Saguaro can expand like an accordion, increasing the diameter of the stem and, in this way, can increase its weight by up to a ton.The Saguaro often begins life in the shelter of a "nurse" tree or shrub which can provide a shaded, moister habitat for the germination of life. The Saguaro grows very slowly — perhaps an inch a year — but to a great height, 15 to 50 feet. The largest plants, with more than 5 arms, are estimated to be 200 years old. An average old Saguaro would have 5 arms and be about 30 feet tall.

Spring Comes To
The Harcuvars: DVD
If you were to go wandering in the Arizona desert on a spring day, what would you be likely to see? This video answers that question. Far from being the lifeless, hostile place that many people imagine, the Arizona desert in spring puts forth an astonishing display of flowers, and a wide variety of animal life.
"Spring Comes to the Harcuvars" contains interviews with 12 species of lizard, 5 rattlesnake species (and five other snakes), plus several birds and mammals. Over 60 different flowering plants provide a kaleidoscope of color.

WE HAVE ALL KINDS OF UNUSUAL ITEMS FOR THE GARDENERS ON YOUR LIST, AT PRICES YOU WILL LOVE.Check out our GARDEN DEPARTMENT.Live Cactus Egg(miniature Greenhouse for Cactus sprout) Set includes: 1 Live Cactus, Egg Incubator dome, and Instructions on planting and care, provides education and fun as you raise your own cactus! Click here to see it!

Joint Supplement – Do you have a dog or cat with arthritis or joint problems, or just a little slow from old age? Check out Nimble, a glucosamine product for dogs, that could help return them to pain-free movement. Click here for more information or to buy.

Sounds of the Desert: Ah-Nee-Ma, John Huling, Robert Mirabal.
Let the sounds of nature and American Indian instruments transport you to peaceful canyons and wide open skies. Enchanting music of Native American flutes, drums, and chants with keyboard textures and guitars to form a rich landscape of musical sound paintings, inspired by the ancient cultures of the American Southwest. Listen online to clips.

All revenue earned from our online reservation system and store sales are used to support the maintenance and development costs associated with the DesertUSA Web site. By placing reservations on DesertUSA’s reservation system or by purchasing products from the Trading Post, you are directly contributing to the future development and continued maintenance of DesertUSA.

You can book reservations anywhere in the World from the DesertUSA Web site. So be sure to try our online reservation system for your next vacation and/or car rental. Make Reservations Now

Get ready for your visit to the desert with books, gifts and products available from the DesertUSA’s Online Store.DesertUSA’s purpose is to provide a tool for discovery – a publication that entertains, educates and explores with our readers, the beauty, life and culture of the North American deserts. Visitors come to DesertUSA’s Web site every month to read articles, participate in the Desert Talk message board, shop in DesertUSA’s online store and explore the desert virtually.

DesertUSA encourages you to forward a copy of the Digital Desert Newsletter to friends, family and business associates who may be interested in receiving this newsletter on a monthly basis.

March is Women’s History Month, and in addition to holding several programs, the Met invites you to honor women artists with a visit—either in person or online. Walk up the Great Hall stairs and through the doors of the European paintings galleries to find grand canvasses depicting 18th-century women artists at work. Or visit the photography galleries and admire the haunting prints of Julia Margaret Cameron. Although photographs are displayed in the galleries on a rotating basis for preservation reasons, they may always be viewed online.

The influence of women can be felt in works from every continent and time period. See sculpture honoring women leaders such as Idia, iyoba of Benin, and Hatshepsut, ruler of Egypt. Catch a glimpse of the everyday lives of ancient Greek women illustrated on bell kraters and lekythoi. And with a trip through the galleries for modern art, witness the contributions of women artists multiply.

Please help our cultural partner NYC & Company by completing a short online survey about the role that the arts plays in your life. Participants may enter a drawing, and six lucky winners will receive a $250 gift card!

Open Late Fridays and Saturdays

Did you know that the Main Building of the Museum is open until 9:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings? Stop by for an after-work visit to the galleries and enjoy a drink at the Great Hall Balcony Bar with live classical music and candlelight dining in an intimate setting.

Take advantage of a special reduced rate for Audio Guides on Friday and Saturday evenings—after 5:00 p.m., Audio Guides are only $5. This offer cannot be combined with other discounts.

See Plan Your Visit for more information about Museum hours and admissions.

For more information, including rental rates, see our Audio Guide page.

Become a Member

As a Member, you receive free admission to the Main Building and The Cloisters Museum and Gardens, invitations to exhibition previews and receptions, special dining privileges, and discounts in The Met Store.

Visit Met Share to connect with the Museum and fellow art lovers. It’s easy to contribute to our blog, share photos, comment on our videos, listen to a growing number Met Podcast episodes, and so much more. See you online!

The Medieval Garden Enclosed is a blog dedicated to the plants and gardens of The Cloisters Museum and Gardens. Readers may explore the role of plants and gardens in medieval life and art, learn how to find and grow medieval herbs and flowers, discuss the long histories of many familiar garden plants, and discover which roadside weeds were once valued medicinals.

Buy Museum Admission Tickets in Advance

Purchase admission tickets and Audio Guides in advance through TicketWeb.

Pick up tickets at the Information Desk in the Great Hall upon arrival.

Women’s History Month

Gallery talks and a film celebrate women in the arts. These programs are free with Museum admission.

Lady of the Two Lands and Daughter of Re: Images of Hatshepsut in Egyptian Art
Saturday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m.
Listen to the podcast episode Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh to learn about the serendipitous discovery of this great ruler’s statuary.

Film

Invitation to a Voyage: Eileen Gray, Designer and Architect
Tuesday, March 24 and Thursday, March 26 at 2:00 p.m.

Young Woman Drawing, a portrait by Marie-Denise Villers that was once ascribed to Jacques-Louis David, has long intrigued visitors. Mary Sprinson de Jesús, research fellow in the Department of European Paintings, recently spoke with Met News editor Jennette Mullaney about this unusual painting.

"It was Margaret Oppenheimer, a student at the Institute of Fine Arts [at New York University] who finally found a convincing attribution for the portrait in 1996. … Villers studied with Girodet, one of David’s most successful pupils, and this portrait was clearly exhibited at the Salon of 1801, where it turns up in an engraving of the Salon installation. It is certainly Villers’s masterpiece.

[The portrait] has a particular immediacy, in part, because the artist has imperfectly grasped Davidian style—the careful drawing, modeling, and classicizing composition—that defined contemporary taste. The picture’s relative innocence and simplicity are part of its appeal. At the same time, the very evocative background with a broken window, the strong diagonal of the rooftop and the mysterious detail of a couple standing at the ledge opposite, shows Villers responding to the art around her. This motif was apparently borrowed from Baron Gerard’s 1799 painting The Comtesse de Morel-Vindé and her Daughter, now in the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco. You might describe the picture as sui generis—one of a kind."

Subscribe to the Artwork of the Day feed and discover the Met’s collection one amazing piece at a time.

Online Collection Database
Wherever you may be, take the opportunity to peruse more than 1,000 musical instruments in the Museum’s online collection database. Although only a small percentage of the department’s holdings, these objects represent a wide range of cultures and time periods, and provide inspiration for fine art and music lovers alike.

Free Concert in the Galleries
Join us for a free concert in The André Mertens Galleries for Musical Instruments on Wednesday, March 4 at 3:30 p.m. Masayo Ishigure will play traditional and contemporary music on a koto, or Japanese zither.

Visit the Musical Instruments playlist on the Met’s YouTube channel to see video of Eric Grossman playing one on the Museum’s Stradivari violins.

Rent an Audio Guide during your next visit for a personal tour of The André Mertens Galleries for Musical Instruments.

Each month, the Met holds a splendid array of concerts and lectures in the Main Building and at The Cloisters Museums and Gardens. See Concerts & Lectures for more.

There is less than one week left to enter the "It’s Time We Met" photo contest. Submit your snapshots for a chance to win and see your photo featured in the Met’s new marketing campaign. Visit the Museum’s Flickr Group and browse the terrific images our visitors have shared.

Painting conservation is a fascinating, labor-intensive process that requires technical, artistic, and scholarly skill from the conservator. These lectures highlight current and recent conservation projects at the Met, revealing the work involved in understanding as well as preserving the paintings in the Museum’s care.

Learn about the production of ancient glass in the Holy Land, from the artisan’s workshop to large-scale raw-glass industries. This lecture examines the design and use of furnaces, various vessels, oil lamps, and jewelry and also highlights the magnificent Sigma-Shaped Panel, a Byzantine gold and opaque glass panel masterpiece from Caesarea (Israel) on display at the Museum.

For children, the Met is a magical place—full of stately knights in full armor, mysterious ancient Egyptian sphinxes and mummies, and bright, exuberant paintings by modern artists. To help families get the most out of their visits, the Museum offers an array of family programs, most free with admission.

Every Saturday and Sunday morning beginning at 11:00 a.m., families are invited to Look Again! Through conversation and drawing, our youngest visitors explore topics unlocking the history, meaning, and cross-cultural connections of works of art in the Museum. And on March 7 or 8, join us for a special How Did They Do That? program showing families, though handling tools and materials, how medieval artists created beautiful illuminated manuscripts. Half-hour sessions will be held throughout the afternoon, starting at 1:00 p.m.

The CCEL Times 4.3 (March 2, 2009)

From the Director

Lent is traditionally a time of preparation for Easter though focus
on repentance, often through prayer and fasting. Often people give
something up for Lent such as meat, alcohol, or even television or
video games. Of course, there is risk of losing the meaning of the
season in the activity. As Craig Higgins puts it, "The point of Lent is
not to give up chocolate; it’s to give up sin!"

Perhaps you already have decided how you will celebrate Lent.
Perhaps you don’t celebrate "seasons" of the church year at all. In any
case, wouldn’t it make sense to add one more practice for the season:
to recommit yourself or expand your commitment to repentance and prayer?

Harry Plantinga

Director of the CCEL

Usage Testimonial

A Big Bookshelf for Pastors on a Small Salary

by Walter Elwell

In most parts of the world, classical Christian literature is
unobtainable, either because it is prohibitively expensive, unavailable
or unknown. In our worldwide mission work (my focus is on Eastern
Europe), we had to confront this problem. The CCEL was the answer to
our prayers. Let me explain this. In many parts of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the average
pastor makes less than $200 a month; in Africa, even less. Compare a
typical recent sending to Africa. The book cost $20 (at a discount),
shipping (at bulk rate) $30, and duty $2. That was for one book.
Needless to say, this is out of reach for any of these pastors, and yet
the material is desperately needed there. In one case we made available
about 25 books to a pastor, who told us with tears in his eyes, it
would have taken him over 20 years to buy the books for himself.
Examples such as these could easily be multilplied. Imagine everyone’s
joy when the CCEL was made available to them. Those who lived so
distantly form schooling or who couldn’t afford it, now had the best of
Christian literature instantly accessible to them. The use of
technology in this way literally changed the face of Christian
education for all these people and around the globe.

Featured Group

Volunteer Discussion Group: Write a Product Review

The CCEL’s Volunteer Discussion Group
provides a forum for individuals to get help and advice while
proofreading, writing biographies, working on CCEL books, and numerous
other volunteer tasks on which CCEL depends to keep our library up and
operational. This month we are featuring a section of the volunteer
discussion group that was recently added: Write a Product Review.

The sale of CCEL products
directly supports the costs associated with operating the Christian
Classics Ethereal Library. We have begun offering our products on
commercial sites such as iTunes and Amazon. Because most of these
products have at most a handful of reviews, we are hoping that CCEL
members might be willing to write a product review or two for us. We
welcome all comments, including praise and constructive criticism.
Check out this link if you’re interested.

Meet the CCEL Employees

Brian Vanderwal

Brian Vanderwal is the CCEL’s primary software developer in
charge of developing new features for the Web site, as well as our
recently-released iPhone applications. He also maintains the servers that run the CCEL and he responds to technical e-mail inquiries.

Brian graduated from Calvin College with a degree in computer science.
He previously worked at Smiths Aerospace (now GE Aviation Systems), and
before that was a volunteer Web developer for his Christian high
school. He has also worked in the IT department at Interlochen Center
for the Arts. When not working at the CCEL, Brian enjoys rock climbing, bicycling, tennis and downhill skiing.

Classic Sermons

Charles Spurgeon on John 19:16:

Let us muse upon the fact that Jesus was [brought
outside] the gates of the city. It was the common place of death. That
little rising ground, which perhaps was called Golgotha, the place of a
skull, from its somewhat resembling the crown of a man’s skull, was the
common place of execution. It was one of Death’s castles; here he
stored his gloomiest trophies; he was the grim lord of that stronghold.
Our great hero, the destroyer of Death, bearded the lion in his den,
slew the monster in his own castle, and dragged the dragon captive from
his own den. Methinks Death thought it a splendid triumph when he saw
the Master impaled and bleeding in the dominions of destruction; little
did he know that the grave was to be rifled, and himself destroyed, by
that crucified Son of man.
— from "The Procession of Sorrow," delivered on March 1, 1863, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

Share With a Friend
Do you know someone who would benefit from receiving this newsletter? Please forward it
to them, and encourage them to create a CCEL user account and subscribe to this
newsletter. Thanks for your help!

In the modern world the written word is often taken for granted. We are so removed from the origins of writing that when we write something, whether on a piece of paper, on a sign or on the Internet, we don’t even think about the physical act of creating words. But 3,000 years ago, when alphabetic writing had begun to spread across the peoples of the ancient Near East, written words were far more than idle marks meant simply to be read. Words were repositories of power, physical vessels that gave material reality to one’s innermost thoughts and even the soul itself. So it was in ancient Israel. In an exclusive e-feature, BAR assistant editor Joey Corbett explores the power and even magical properties of the written word in antiquity and the belief that the act of writing could bring blessings–and curses–to life.

Explore the culture, archaeology and stunning monuments of the Other Holy Land

September 21-October 3, 2009

After Israel, Turkey has more Biblical sites than any other country. Many people are unaware of Turkey’s unique role in the Bible because this strategic peninsula–bounded by the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas–is usually called Asia Minor or Anatolia. Turkey is especially important in understanding the background of the New Testament because approximately two-thirds of its books were written either to or from churches in Turkey. The three major apostles–Peter, Paul and John–either ministered or lived in Turkey.

Your guide is scholar Mark Wilson, the director of the Asia Minor Research Center in Izmir, Turkey. Dr Wilson, who has served as a consultant for "The First Christians" in the History Channel’s "Lost Worlds" series, is currently Visiting Professor of Early Christianity at Regent University and leads field studies in Turkey for several universities and seminaries. His expertise will illuminate the ancient sites and rich history of this legendary land.

This week in the news, discoveries in Egypt dominate the headlines of the archaeological world, beginning with the discovery by maintenance workers of an ancient life-sized statute near the Giza pyramids in Egypt. Also near the Giza plateau, a Japanese archaeological team uncovers 2,600-year-old coffins and canopic jars. Near Luxor, a colossal statue of Amenhotep is once again standing tall and gazing across the Nile Valley. Elsewhere, a building that dates to the First and Second Temple eras has been identified in southern Jerusalem, while archaeologists have shed some light on the mysterious "desert kites" in the Negev and Arava regions of Israel.

Did the Israelites escape slavery in a mass exodus from Egypt? Was there a King David who established the United Monarchy in Jerusalem? What was everyday life like in ancient Israel? World-renowned archaeologist William G. Dever examines these important topics and others in How Archaeology Illuminates the Bible, an eight-part DVD lecture series he created exclusively for the Biblical Archaeology Society.

Professor Dever’s engaging lecture style and extensive knowledge make this series not only fascinating for the beginner but packed with insight for the more advanced student of Biblical archaeology. From the legendary patriarchs to the simple "man on the street" in ancient Israel, you’ll learn the established theories and the latest trends in Biblical archaeology–in a variety of fascinating topics–all from a top expert.

Write a caption for this cartoon! The author of the best caption will receive a BAS T-shirt, a Dead Sea Scroll mug and three complimentary subscriptions to give BAR to friends.
Runners-up will receive a BAS T-shirt and two complimentary subscriptions. The deadline for captions is April 15, 2009.